The more I’ve been praying for this nation the more I am experiencing strange meetings with people and ideas that have taken shape with an inner energy that I find very exciting. The concept of healing wounded history is a subject that has captured my interest ever since spending 2 days with the Rev. Russ Parker. His teaching on working with dreams was outstanding and has helped me to address with comparative ease my client’s dreams and inner thought life. His books that I have subsequently read and am continuing to work my way through are an enlightening postscript to the climax of my prayer task for this past 6 months. Praying for our nation and learning how to place us back on the road to healing would appear to be the one answer I believe I’ve been looking for.

It isn’t enough to just pray for someone in church or to offer them a sense of courtesy by asking after them after ministering to them. It is the entire network that we each have as individuals that make for the healing of a person. If we ask God to intervene in our lives are we not then asking or giving him permission to do whatever he feels is right. That means to invade our social network so the changes made within us therefore affect those around us otherwise what’s the point of asking him in the first place.

Many years ago I was in a church meeting when a person in the congregation was affected by a sudden and overwhelming presence of God. The person had been involved in very disturbing practices which were clearly contrary to the word of God. The person had been so affected that he had visibly changed shape and his face even looked remarkably different. After this young man had been prayed for the minster made a statement that has always stayed with me. He said “this young man should not be left alone for at least the next week”. He continued that he should have the word of God read over him at least twice a day for the next 7 days. I did not know the young man involved and cannot be sure whether the instructions from the minster were actually followed but I have come to realise this statement made by this minister was probably more necessary for all of us rather than just the odd one or two. If we aren’t strong enough to affect our network then our network will be strong enough to affect us, particularly if we are young Christians.

According to Russ Parker part of what is involved in the healing of the land is the healing of the Christian place of ministry. This is needed in order to be a place of healing for the community, if society sees a fractured church what is it that makes it any different to the world and therefore what is the attraction. I continue to pray and ask our eternal Father to highlight the churches need for a united front to affect a hurting world for the furthering of His glory. I continue to pray for the church to be a people of willingness to look within before looking outward.